My Offer Stands and You Must Choose
by Mhera Of Silence Awakens
Summary: After the final battle, Hermione is injured badly and has to be carfully watched in her most natural habitat, the library of Hogwarts. But there is a strange man that takes care of her, and no one has seen, save for one 15 year old girl, and no one knows
1. Prolouge

A/N Heres a VERY short first chapter... but its just getting started. The following chapters are much larger, so no worries!

Cold eyes watched intently as she paced furiously back and forth across the stone floor. The harsh sound of her footsteps echoed throughout the lonely room, and she moved freely, thinking she was alone. But that was not so.

The cold eyes were startlingly empty, void of all common emotions. They merely gazed openly from their hiding spot only a few meter's away. Several bland colors swam together, an icy blue, a frozen green, and a lifeless gray. Then slowly the hues swam faster and faster, swirling together in madness to form a single, heated emotion that overcame the man watching in a single moment.

Sorrow.

As the impact of the sudden feeling hit him, Draco Malfoy rose silently from his crouching position and swept, quietly as can be, out of the book filled room. His quick, sweeping walk turned into an effortless jog, and then with the security of his solitude, transformed itself into a heady run. It sent him flying down the long hallways and down the steep staircases. He went down until he reached the familiar dampness of the dungeons, and there he let his mind clear of the confusing emotion.

Back in the library, Hermione Granger ceased her pacing at the sound of a creaking door. She panicked, and hid behind a large stack of books, hoping that whoever had come into her dwelling meant her no harm. Then, hearing a quiet, cautious voice begin to call out her name in a half whisper, she crept out to meet them. Her eyes landed on a tall man with messy black hair and fresh green eyes hiding behind sophisticated looking glasses.

His eyes were full of worry, but at the sight of her body slowly coming forward to him, as trustful as a small child, they changed to relief, and then to adoration and love as he looked down at the woman he had been in love with before the terrible accident had stolen her mind from him.

"Hermione..." His voice came to her softly, and her mind processed the words slowly. She searched his face for any sign of recognition, but drew back slightly when none came. His face looked pained by her failure to know who he was, but he continued. "Professor, its past curfew, you should be asleep."

Hermione looked at him cautiously, and then seeing no mistruth in his face, allowed herself to be taken gently by the arm and let into her private quarters. She stared at him, befuddled when he took out nightclothes from her dresser and laid them out on the bed, and then pulled back the bedspread. She opened her mouth to protest, but he smiled reassuringly at her and smoothly exited the room.

Hermione caught herself muttering, ".. lying my cloths out like that, like he owned the place. Who does he think he is...?" Then she stopped in mid breath, just as she had slipped the nightclothes on. Who was he? She racked her brain and came to no conclusion. How had he known her name, where her quarters where, or which drawer in her dresser held which clothes? Who was this mysterious stranger?

While pondering the matter that confused her so greatly, she absentmindedly strode out of her room and back into the main library. She looked at the great shelves of endless amounts of books around her, and though 'where else could I ever find this much information. Something here will give me the answer.' She promptly sat down at one of the benches, and started sorting through a large pile of books, flipping through each one in turn to try to find the answers to her many questions the only way she knew how.


	2. Lost and Found

A/N Its much longer! As promised! Hope it's enjoyed!

Hermione didn't notice the book when it fell from her weakening grasp and slammed onto the floor in an awkward fashion. Her head fell foreword as exhaustion overcame her, and slowly reality drifted away from her. Time slipped by, leaving her unaware and left behind. In her mind, she didn't dream, but faces flashed through her mind. Faster and faster the reel of images went around in her head, repeating themselves. Some faces seemed to be stuck and would stay in her line of vision for longer than others, and flicker on and off. Unconsciously her mind changed certain details, giving a man shorter hair, or a woman a different skin tone. And soon all the faces had been altered, ranging from different features to different colors, black and white, and all color of the rainbow.

When her eyes opened, she looked around, the dream had left her completely terrified. Her breathing became shadowed as she started to hyperventilate, and sweat dripped down her face and neck. Feeling lost, scared, and completely alone, she got to her feet. But her body betrayed her, and dropped out from under her. She let out a petrified scream and lunged to her feet. Blinded by her terror, she threw herself around the room, tearing books of of shelves, and leaping back when they hit the floor in front of there, as if the books were trying to attack her.

A book flew at her an d she threw her body weight backwards to avoid it. But she tripped over a large spell book and fell heavily. She landed and for a moment all her thoughts ceased as a simple, very familiar sensation came over her. Pain. It shot through her shoulder, and suddenly everything made sense to her.

Well, not everything.

But as she lay on the floor, full of pain, reality rush back to her and her perspective changed. The things that she didn't understand were going to be okay. The smooth stone beneath her felt right, and the mass volumes of books around her comforted her. She allowed herself to remain unmoving, on the floor with pain washing through her small body and she marveled at how the atmosphere had the power to somehow make her feel alive, and very real. She closed her eyes and let her mind go, and a thoughtless calm helped her to regain her breath, and it dulled the pain.

Then after what seemed like and endless span of time, the pangs of hunger cried out, and forced her to to come back to the real world. She took back control of her mind, and with that came the unbelievable pain of her shoulder. She gave voice to it, crying out to relive the waves of pure torture that were flooding her senses. Her body, thin and slowly wasting away, writhed on the floor, unintentionally causing the flaming pain to increase.

------

A goblet shattered across the floor of the Great Hall, finally silencing the screaming match at the Ravenclaw table. Surrounding students waited a moment before breathing a sigh of relief and taking their hands away from their ears. The two girls that had been screaming, a slight Hufflepuff girl with blonde hair and a pinched expression and a larger, but finely boned redhead with tears running down her face slowly stepped apart from where they had been- screaming in each others faces.

The redhead, Ellen Denver, couldn't control her emotions, and grabbed her shoulder bag. She strode out of the giant room and into the halls. The blonde smirked and threw her comrades a triumphant look. She took her seat next to her equally nasty looking girlfriends, and smiled at the onlookers with what could only be taken as a conniving glare.

"Great going Marcia, you really let Denver have it this time," came a high pitched, forced sounding voice.

Marcia flipped her hair casually, basking in the attention that was all on her. "That little bitch wont be messing with Owen again, not without thinking about what I said at least." Then she chatted easily about Owen Riddle, her boyfriend of two days. Technically they weren't even going out, but after Marcia Davis had convinced him to accompany her to Hogsmeade over the weekend, she was spreading the rumor of their relationship the only way she knew how. By screaming it at someone in the middle of a crowded room, where everyone could hear her.

-----

Ellen sobbed as she walked through the empty halls, after giving up on trying to conceal her feelings. She let herself wander, but inside she knew that it was pointless, she couldn't possibly end up anywhere that would make her feel any better. In her Fifth Year of Hogwarts, and still nothing seemed right to her. After her friend, Tabathia was killed in the war by Death Eaters while she was on vacation in Second Year, she was completely alone. And she had never been the type of person to flourish in solitude. She loved to be around people, and had always been very social.

But after Tabathia's death, Ellen had gone into shock, cutting off ties from her old friends. Not intentionally, but suddenly it seemed that peoples pity would smother her, and that was something that she just couldn't deal with. She hated the look on peoples faces when they would catch her crying in the halls, her dorm, or in an unused classroom. Her classmates couldn't understand how much time she truly needed to get over the giant loss she had suffered.

But all of this was in the past, and she knew better than to dig it all up again. There really was no point in doing that. What she should deal with was the fact that she was just starting to become herself again, and made, for the first time in almost three years, a few close friends. A Hufflepuff prefect had made himself known to her, and he was the closest so far. She had met Owen in her Advanced Potions class, and they had been made partners. At first, being partnered with a Sixth Year boy was awkward, but after she had gotten to know him, her extreme talent with Potions had been the perfect match to his utter lack of concentration. They were nothing alike, she was quiet and studious, and he was a social butterfly that always had a joke up his sleeve, but they had clicked.

But Owen was brilliant in a different way that Ellen. He was smart outside of the classroom, and knew how to deal with people and tough situations. When he had first talked to Ellen, pity did not cloud his eyes. Instead, he looked upon her with respect. He never dodged certain topics while talking to her, and always went with the flow of things. He was fun loving, and had a way about him that allowed him to get along with everyone.

And now, thanks to that horrible Marcia, Ellen could no longer talk freely with her newly found friend. She wasn't exactly afraid of Marcia, but just knew it wasn't worth it to go against the other girls wishes. It just wouldn't be important enough in the long run.

As she slowly stopped her crying, she received a painful headache, a nasty after effect of the screaming match and the heavy tears. She paused briefly, and then decided against going to the nurse. All she needed was a little peace and quiet. She noted her location, at the bottom of the staircase in the second wing of the third floor, and backtracked down the hall, to the left, and down another flight of stairs. When on the second floor, she walked briskly in the direction of the library.

When she was about to push open the grand doors that led to the main study section of the library, she heard cries that the huge doors had muffled. They where thick, to prevent the sounds of the students in the halls from drifting into the study area and distracting its inhabitants, but Ellen had never realized that they also muffled the sounds of the people within the library also.

When she heard the cries, Ellen heaved open the doors and ignored them as they shut with a bang. Unsure of where the sound was coming from, she took out her want and held it at the ready. She was sure the person would do her no harm, but she could never be too careful. She walked carefully into the back of the library, where books stood in endless rows, and she looked down each in turn. When she grew closer, at least, she assumed it was closer by the growing volume of the cries, she noticed a few books lying scattered on the floor. She shook her head slightly in an attempt to clear it, and to understand.

The librarian , Professor Granger, was a very troubled woman. This was common knowledge around the school, but she was also extremely tidy, constantly shelving books and double-checking to make sure they were always put back in the correct spots. That was the best thing about the library, it was neat, quiet, clean, and everything could be found easily.

But something wasn't right, and that thought haunted Ellen as she slowly drew closer to the wails, and had to catch herself when she stumbled over a thick dictionary. It was a muggle book that Professor Granger always kept copes of for student use, and she herself had found to be quite helpful. She neared a towering bookcase, and summoning her courage, she flinched as a cry rang out, startling her. She stepped around the fallen dictionary, and then let out a gasp of shock when her eyes took in the scene before her.

Professor Granger lay sprawled out on the floor, her back twisted in an unnatural position, and her face pace, breathing shallow. Not only was her face pale, but strained, trying to force back the pain she must be feeling from her back. Her eyes were open with pain, and her lips dry and parted, taking in small gasps. Her gaze darted back and forth but looking through Ellen not really seeing her. She had bitten her cheek, or lip, or tongue, and it had bled out of her mouth and dried on her chin. Ellen averted her gaze as she noticed the teacher wearing only nightclothes, and partially on at that.

Ellen stood in shock, unsure of what she should do. Her teacher was injured and panicking, and if she had been any other adult in the school, Ellen would not have hesitated to kneel next to her and try to do something. But Professor Granger was not well. She had trouble remembering small things, and had to have others keep an eye on her to see that she kept out of trouble. But she hadn't been watched lately, because of promising behavior.

Ellen quickly decided on a plan. She rummaged through her shoulder bag for a spare bit of parchment, and scribbled on it with a pen. Then she charmed it to fly to the nearest person in the school for assistance.

Then she started pacing back and forth, her headache pounding mercilessly as Professor Granger continued to moan from her spot on the floor. Adrenaline pulsed through her body, and Ellen started shivering even though the castle was quite warm for November. Five minutes passed, and then ten. Her pacing increased and then she heard the old doors creak open and strange man rushed in. He ran to her location without hesitation, and looked at Ellen strangely when he saw her.

"What happened to her?" Worry laced his words, and fear lined his smooth face.

Wordlessly Ellen pointed at the librarian, and moved aside as the man flung himself at her side. He wiped the blood off her chin, and Ellen watched as he lifted her gently into his arms. She took in his quiet, catlike grace and strength, and his medium length white blonde hair that swept across his forehead. She looked into his eyes as he turned to face her, and marveled at how consumed he was with Professor Granger. She even detected what was simple hero worship mixed with a reluctant hint of love in his eyes.

Draco pulled Hermiones scantily clad body against him, ignoring both her resistance and the teenaged girl that was staring at him dumbfoundedly. He suddenly looked at the girl, with her school robes on and her face covered with drying tears.

"Follow me Miss, your teacher needs to see the nurse immediately." And with that, Draco led the way out of the library and through the empty halls.

Ellen followed, a few steps behind the tall blond man, worried about Professor Granger, but absolutely terrified as the idea that she could be blamed for her accident and injury came down on her. The man carrying her looked very intimidating, even though he was obviously very careful with the woman in his arms. He walked with quick hurried steps, but smoothly so he wouldn't jostle the injured woman's back. Their footsteps echoed in the halls, and Ellen silently said thanks for the fact that breakfast was still in session in the Great Hall.


	3. Questioning

A/N Another chapter! I'm pumped, this is really so much fun. I love posting these stories, and I will have another chapter out by tomorrow I think, I just need to type it out. If you're being patient, thank you, if not... well, that's okay too.

The gloomy light of the hospital wing was not what woke Hermione up soon after she had been left carefully in a bed. A dream was what woke her. She had been among a group of people whose names had escaped her, but somehow she had the feeling of knowing them. The room she was in was very crowded, but then people started leaving. As the people kept filing out, she was unable to move from her position in the middle of the table in the room. Eventually everyone had left the room, and she was left there in the center of the huge room, utterly alone. The feeling of loss overwhelmed her, and as it did, a sharp pain in her shoulder woke her.

"Well Miss Granger, you gave us all quite a scare, how are you feeling?" A kind looking woman smiled down at her, and Hermione gazed emptily back up at her from the bed.

"W-w-where am I? What's going on? Who are you?" Her eyes flashed, confusion overcoming her and she felt totally helpless.

"It's okay Miss Granger. Just drink this." The woman handed Hermione a glass filled with water- like liquid, "just drink this."

Hermione glanced at it with suspicion, but when the nurse nodded at her convincingly, she took a deep breath and lifted it to her lips. She closed her eyes and grimaced when the smooth potion slid down her throat. Almost instantly she felt sluggish, and her senses slowed down. As she handed the potion back to the medi- witch, she marveled in how slow her arm moved. It seemed like hours, not seconds later that her arm returned to lay next to her body on the bed. The medi- witch smiled at her fondly, and then bustled away into another room.

Hermione felt her lips curl into a pleased smile as the pain that has woken her simply melted away. It was almost as if the pain was an outer shell of ice on her upper back, and now it was literally dripping off of her. But so slowly that it tickled and she giggled at the sensation. She was looking across the room at a wall hanging of an enchanted image of the Hogwarts crest when she heard from far away, a voice clearing itself.

It took her another eternity to bring her gaze back to where the nurse had been standing only a few moments before. Her eyes fell on a tall girl that stood before her, a pretty redhead with dark, troubled, deep brown eyes. Hermione stared at her for a long time before she realized that she was not the only person at her bedside. Behind the teenaged girl, was a man that simply towered over her. His broad shoulders dwarfed the young girl, and Hermione drew back in slow motion and gasped at her recognition. He had been the last person to leave her all alone in her dream, all alone in that huge room. She remembered how reluctant he had looked, how completely heart broken to have left her in that cold, empty room. Then without warning, the potion took its final effects and Hermione slipped into unconsciousness.

----

Harry felt his heart leap into his mouth when Hermione had gasped at the sight of him, but when she had passed out he could feel himself blink helplessly, fighting back the tears. He was absolutely terrified. There was no other word for this, the woman he loved was gone, out of his reach forever, and he had just caused her shock, just before she passed out. A voice broke into his thoughts.

"Professor? What happened to her? Is she going to be okay? I swear I didn't do anything to her…" Ellen's voice broke off, unsure if she should keep talking. She looked up at her handsome Professor and Headmaster, praying for something that would clue her into what she should do next.

Happy snapped out of his thoughts and gazed at the girl that stood before him. He took a deep breath and then let himself smile at her, but they both knew it was strained. "Its going to be fine Ellen, don't worry. Professor Granger must have had a panic attack. It's very lucky that you found her when you did. Thank you." He smiled again, this time a bit more warmly, at the girl that was nearly as bright as the woman that was lying before him. "Can you tell me again exactly what happened?"

Ellen breathed a sigh of relief. She looked up at him gratefully, and then repeated the same think she had said before. "I left breakfast early because I had a small… disagreement there. I was walking around the halls and I didn't know where I should go. So I decided to go to the library to get some quiet time to think." She paused, and Harry smiled wider, reassuring her. Ellen took another deep breath and continued.

"When I opened the door, I hear her; she was crying and yelling out, so I took my wand out." Another pause. "I remember thinking something was really wrong because I found books scattered on the floor. Actually, I tripped on one. Then she kept getting louder, so I kept going. When I saw it was her, I really didn't know what to do. I'm ashamed to admit it," at this she blushed and looked at her feet, "but I was scared and didn't know what to do. I was scared of her; she was looking in my direction, but right through me.

"I charmed a paper in out in search of the nearest person of authority, but it must have been intercepted immediately and sent on a different course because it took about ten minutes for anyone to come. And instead of one of the professors like I had expected, it was a man I have never seen before."

Harry looked at her inquisitively, and searched her face. "Can you describe him to the best of your ability?"

Ellen bit her lower lip, thinking. "I was pretty dazed the whole time, but I think I can tell you a little. I remember that he raced in, barely looked at me, and was next to her before I could even think. His hands, they shook when he took her pulse, and he lifted her up really easily. She didn't seem to look at him either, more like through him, like with me. His hair…" She narrowed her eyes in concentration. "His hair was long. Not like long, but grown out, and very messy. He was really tall, maybe as tall as you or a tiny bit taller."

Harry nodded, and put one hand on her shoulder. "Do you remember any other defining features? Clothing, eye color, tone of voice? Anything you can tell me will help."

Ellen's eyes flickered back and forth and then she spoke. "He sounded… a lot like you. Not in tone of voice or anything, but it commanded authority. I didn't even think to question what he told me to do until after he left. His clothes?" She took a breath. "They were dark, not new, but not old and tattered. Everything about him just demanded cooperation and obedience. He was in control the second he walked into the room, and uh, well uh…" She looked at Harry and blushed deeply.

"Go on," Harry prodded.

"Well, he was um, not bad looking… if yeah, you get my drift. And he must have been in his early twenties, and he seemed to be just around your age."

Harry smiled at her, and then at Hermione. He looked back at Ellen, and his smile had turned sad. "I can't tell you how much of a help you and than man were, she would have been much worse off if she had been found any later. Are you late for any classes right now? I could write you out a pass so you don't get in any trouble."

"Sure, thanks that would be great. I'm late for my Sixth Year potions class, and my partners helpless without me."

Harry grinned, remembering his days back in potions and how everyone was hopeless without help from Hermione at one time or another. He grabbed a piece of parchment out of the pockets of his robe, and scrawled a quick message on it. "Don't worry, old' Slughorn should accept this with no problems. I was only his best student in the years he taught my classmates and me."

Ellen smiled back up at the man and took the note. She didn't look back as she rushed out of the Hospital Wing, grabbing her bag on the way. When she reached her potions classroom, the door opened much more heavily, and she walked forward hesitantly until she reached the teachers desk. Professor Slughorn was easily the oldest teacher in the school, and Ellen had to repeat his name four times before he opened his sleepy eyes. She handed him the note quickly, and retreated to her desk as his old eyes struggled to read the Headmasters untidy scrawl.

Owen elbowed her and mouthed the words 'where were you?' Ellen pointed snatched his parchment and wrote on it: I was with the Headmaster. Owen looked at her and then smiled easily. Then he gestured at the cauldron beside him and wrote: HELP ME, in large letters. Ellen couldn't stifle her small giggle, and promptly took control.


End file.
